Insert my usual, oft forgotten note about spoilers.

Also insert another common note about how I haven't had a chance to proofread this yet. I wanted to post it ASAP as Hoon's birthday already passed, and through a series of circumstances, this ended up being late. I just want it up now. I'll clean it up very soon.

Without futher ado, enjoy!

“How did this happen?” Serin asked her two fully mobile children, holding the less mobile third one in her arms while eyeing the mess in the kitchen incredulously.

Eunsook shrugged, and Taekhyun looked confused. Serin narrowed her eyes. Eunsook definitely knew. “What were you guys doing in here?” she questioned more intensely. Flour was everywhere, the oven smelled like something was burning, and Taekhyun and Eunsook were both covered in a suspicious brown substance.

Eunsook sighed, as though the answer was obvious. “We're making Appa a birthday cake,” she explained. Serin had feared as much. The brown substance was cake batter. The burning smell was the cake in the oven.

“That was thoughtful of you,” Serin told the eight-year-old girl, “but you should have asked me for help.”

“I wanted to do it myself,” Eunsook expressed.

“So you had Taekhyun help you?”

“He wasn't helping. He was watching,” she insisted.

Serin shook her head. She wasn't mad at them. In fact she found it thoughtful and cute that Eunsook had wanted to make Hoon a birthday cake. Unfortunately, she was a couple of days early, but Serin didn't think that Hoon would mind. That was, if the cake was even edible. Serin had her doubts. “Let's see what you have in there,” Serin stated, indicating the oven.

Eunsook pouted but allowed her mother to peek at the cake. Cake batter was splattered onto the bottom of the oven and was obviously burned onto the surface. The cake, split into two round pans, didn't look right, as though it hadn't risen. “Can you get me a toothpick?” Serin requested from Eunsook. She did as asked, grabbing one from the box in a drawer and handing it to her mother. Serin stuck it into the cake and frowned when she pulled it out. It was definitely cooked the whole way through. It just didn't look or smell right.

“Is it done, Mama?” Eunsook asked.

“Yeah,” Serin said, reacing for an oven mitt so that she could remove the cake. She pulled the pans out and set them on the counter, closing the oven door and turning the oven off.

“Can we ice it now?”

Serin shook her head. “It has to cool first. All of the icing will melt if we put it on right now.” As she explained this, she observed the cakes closely. They looked more like brownies than cake. Serin knew she needed to taste test it first. Hoon would appreciate the effort Eunsook had put into the cake, but he'd also probably appreciate a cake that actually tasted good more. She could fairly easily bake a new cake, however she wanted to taste Eunsook's attempt before she did that. There was at least a possibility that the baked concoction before her would actually be okay.

Eunsook and Taekhyun watched her in awe as she, in their eyes, effortlessly moved about the kitchen with Junghye held in one arm, cleaning up their mess. After a few moments, Serin put Junghye down, instructing the older children to watch their baby sister. Eunsook did so immediately, as she quite enjoyed having a living “doll” to take care of. Serin, finally having both hands free, set about cleaning the kitchen with blinding speed. When finished, she fished into the depths of her storage cabinet to find a cooling rack to put the cake on. She flipped the pans over, easing the cake out onto the cooling rack, before scraping some of the cooked cake off the bottom of the pan. She put it into , and her face when blank as she resisted the urge to spit it out.

“How is it, Mama?” Eunsook asked.

Serin forced herself to swallow. “You did a good job, Eunsookie,” Serin said. However, her mind was working in overdrive. She was going to need to fix this, and all she needed to do was figure out the specifics of how. She arrived at an answer quickly, and when Eunsook asked when they could ice the cake, Serin seamlessly told her, “Let's wait until tomorrow morning. We'll do it together.” She would put Eunsook, Taekhyun, and Junghye in bed, assure that Hoonmin was fast asleep, and then sneak into the kitchen to make a new cake with the recipe Eunsook had used.

-

At 8:30 she'd placed all of the children in bed. By 9, they were all sleeping. Hoon wanted her attention in the bedroom not long after that. She was exhausted, had to stay up to bake a cake, and really would have rather not had with him, but she didn't want him to get suspicious. He, of course, became suspicious anyway. She was distracted, and therefore, disinterested in what he was doing, and he realized it almost immediately. After taking care of his needs, he instantly began to ask her what was up when he finished.

“I've just got a lot going on,” she told him. “It's hard work taking care of three kids and trying to run a business.”

He nodded his understanding. “You should sleep,” he suggested, wrapping an arm around her waist and nuzzling against her neck.

She really wanted to do just that; give in to the feeling of comfort she felt from being in his arms and simply fall asleep. But tonight wasn't a night she could do that. She patiently bided her time, chatting with Hoon while she waited for him to fall asleep. Eventually, he ceased speaking, his breathing changed, and she heard him start snoring. Extricating herself from his arms, she pulled her clothes back on and headed to the kitchen.

She mixed up the batter rather quickly, having already prepared most of the ingredients while working on dinner. Within half and hour, she had her cakes in the oven. All that was left to do was stealthily discard Eunsook's cake. She had half an hour until the baking cakes were done, so she pulled on her shoes and went to take the thoughtful but decidedly not delicious cakes Eunsook had made to the dumpster. It was on the other side of the gym, which would require about a 10 minute round trip of walking in the moonlight that warm August night.

She was a little nervous as she walked in the dark by herself. She hadn't fully adjusted to being out of the city. It was weird to only hear the sounds of cicadas and crickets and to only have her way lit by the few lights on the complex. She wasn't scared. Not really. But she was unused to the quiet and solitude. She made it to the dumpster without incident and threw the cakes inside. She brushed her hands together to get off any crumbs, and feeling accomplished, she headed back inside the way she came.

Serin smelled the cake as soon as she walked in. Yes, this was definitely better. She sat in the kitchen, looking through posts on social media. She messaged Amanda, wondering if her cousin was still awake.

«Are you up?

» Yeah. Barely. What's up?

Serin smiled as she typed out her answer.

 « I'm up baking a cake for Hoonmin's birthday.

» Oh. Isn't that a couple of days from now? Aren't you jumping the gun a bit?

« Eunsook jumped the gun. She baked him a chocolate brick. It was really precious, but I'd rather us all eat delicious cake. So making a cake, I am.

» Ah. That's really cute. And I do have to go. Soohyun keeps looking at me funny because I've got my phone out.

« Ok ok! Goodnight!

The conversation was over, but it had served it purpose. The timer on her phone went off, she grabbed a toothpick, and checked the center of each cake for doneness. It was finished, and she pulled them out of the oven, set them out on the cooling rack in the pans, turned off the oven, and went to bed. She would finish everything in the morning. Sneaking back into bed, she climbed in without rousing Hoon (something she was far better at than he was. He rarely got into bed without waking her up). She set an early alarm, making sure she would wake up before everyone else. Confident and pleased with herself, she curled up against Hoon's side, causing him to moan in his sleep and unconsciously roll towards her. Feeling his warmth on her back, she let the sweet embrace of sleep claim her.

-

It had been difficult to drag herself out of bed to take the cooled cakes out of their pans and hide them in the oven before anyone got up. She'd forced herself to. Hoon liked to wake up and steam himself eggs for breakfast before his workout. He'd eat a protein rich breakfast afterward, but he jump-started his routine with steamed eggs nearly every morning. She had the cakes out and the pans washed and was back in bed before he was up to notice anything out of the ordinary. She smiled at her success. Now she'd just have to wait for later in the day to ice the cake with the kids and present it to Hoon two days early.

-

The day proceeded as expected. Eunsook, fortunately, did not notice that the cakes were different, a fact Serin was grateful for. Before Serin went to her office for the day, she and Eunsook iced the cake. She let Eunsook write the message, and though her piping skills weren't the best, Serin found the lopsided “Happy Birthday Appa!” scrawled on the cake incredibly adorable. She let Taekhyun draw a smiley face on it, before she took the frosting bag and drew a heart with her initials inside. She placed the cake back in the oven, telling them to not mess with it and to go play in the gym with Appa. The two raced off, and Serin picked up Junghye from her high chair and carried the girl with her to her office.

-

That evening, Hoon was shocked when she brought out the cake after dinner. “But my birthday is two days from now!” he exclaimed, confused.

Eunsook smiled happily. “But I wanted Appa to have his cake now,” she explained.

Hoon grinned. Eunsook often celebrated his birthday early. She was usually excited to celebrate it. It wasn't the first time. “Well thank you. Was this what was distracting you last night, Serin?”

She bashfully swiped at the air in front of her face. “Ah, don't say that. I didn't do anything last night. I was just worried that you'd find out about the surprise.”

He looked at her puzzled. “But you got up in the middle of the night and--”

Apparently, he'd realized that she left the bed. She laughed awkwardly and cut him off. “And went to the bathroom.”

“But I thought...”

“I went to the bathroom,” she insisted.

He shrugged and let it go. She'd explain the adventure later. For now, they lit up candles, sang to him, and ate delicious, love-filled cake.